The tendency of semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits (IC) and large scale integrated circuits (LSIC) toward minuteness has rapidly progressed, and higher accuracy and efficiency have been required of apparatuses for manufacturing such semiconductor devices. Semiconductor integrated circuits undergo a variety of processing steps during manufacture, such as masking, resist coating, developing, etching, and deposition. In many of these steps, material is applied or removed from a substrate within an enclosed chamber having a controlled environment.
In order to remain competitive, manufacturers of semiconductor devices continually strive to improve production yields, while at the same time reducing the associated manufacturing costs. As their customers increasingly require larger quantities of semiconductor products, the manufacturers seek equipment capable of operating efficiently for producing products commensurate with the customers' expectations. Because floor space is at a premium in most manufacturing facilities (due to the clean room environment necessary for fabrication of semiconductor devices), the manufacturers of semiconductor processing equipment have responded by producing semiconductor processing systems having vertically integrated processing units.
One particular example of a vertically integrated system is a coater/developer track system, which is often being manufactured at heights of about ten feet or greater. In such a system, for example, multiple coater and/or developer units are vertically stacked on top of each other, typically at the upper part of the track system.